History
The origins of Christianity in Kerala go back to the earliest period of the Church itself. In fact, there is a tradition among the Christian people of Kerala that St. Thomas the Apostle, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus, landed on the Kerala coast in 52 A.D. and preached the Gospel. He is said to have first converted about a dozen Brahmin families to Christianity. He organized Christian communities, in several places and established seven churches in Kerala and then at last got martyrdom in Mylapore, Chennai, in 72 A.D. However the exact year of his arrival here is disputed due to lack of credible historical evidence, despite the fact that the fruits of his hard labour being visible everywhere. His tomb is venerated by people of all religions even today. In 345 A.D., a Palestinian business man, Thomas Cana, along with 72 families came and settled in Kerala, thereby augmenting the Christian community. A second period of intense Christian missionary activity began with the arrival of European missionaries since the discovery of sea route to India by Vasco da Gama in 1498.
In 1841 Benjamin Bailey translated the first of many Bible translations into Malayalam.
Read more about this topic: Christianity In Kerala
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